Hi everyone!  I’m back, as promised, and feeling a lot better mentally, so thank you, THANK YOU for supporting my break from blogging.  I so appreciated all your kind comments of concern and emails.

I can’t lie;  it was a rough week.  I had so many thoughts and images of that day swirling through my head.  It took until the end of the week for me to finally let it go.  Thankfully, the daughters were able to let go, too.  We talked about death being a part of life and said prayers for the woman and her family.   I told them to take comfort that the woman was with God.  They did and thanks to the resiliency of being children, they moved on.

Being absent from blogging this week, I didn’t pay much attention to my food intake.  Actually, I waffled back and forth between making good choices because I want to be healthy and not giving a hoot because life can be over in an instant.  Hmmm… emotional eating at its finest there. 

After letting go of all the emotion of last week, I realized that I do want to make good choices. I can’t control everything that may happen to me, but I can most certainly control what I put in my mouth. So, in that respect, I can affect part of my destiny.  I don’t want to let my weight or poor food choices determine how healthy I can be.  I owe it to my family and myself to do what is best for my body.

And so… I refocus and start a new day.

~~~~~~~

I really wanted to run this morning.  It’s week 2 of  half-marathon training and I haven’t been able to run all week!  My back has been totally out of whack and causing me a lot of pain.  I thought it was getting better and tried to go out the other day, but I was unable to run without major twinges and sharp pains. 

I was sad…

I knew if I didn’t rest it there could be further injury, so rest I did.  All week.  And medicated with round-the clock Advil…

Today was the first day my back felt better.  I thought about heading out for a short run, but decided one more day would do me good.  Instead, I fired up Exercise TV and did YogaWorks BodySlim.  Can I just say that yoga ROCKS?!  My back and hips felt like new after that session.  Note to self:  Do more yoga!

Breakfast was a filling wrap – egg white, canadian bacon and cheese in a La Tortilla Factory whole wheat tortilla…

Glad it was so filling since lunch was way late !  We got caught up doing errands and the husband dragged me to get my flu shot.  He loves to go together so he can laugh hysterically at my histrionics.    I’ll admit, I’m a big baby.  I hate needles.  I try to be brave for the children, but in the moment, I usually yelp, scream or cry out. 

No fun.  No fun at all, I tell ya. 

My badge of honor…

And I may or may not have been given a lollipop afterward by the technician.

I had to treat my wound very gingerly, so I just heated up some leftover pizza for lunch from our Friday Night Pizza party   The grilled pizza on the baking stone is a big hit!

Dinner was just as easy – leftover roasted veggies with brown rice pasta…

Sooo good!

My arm…not.  OUCH.  <—— baby.  <—- the husband says.

Have a great day, everyone!  Looking forward to catching up with you all !

Do you get the flu shot?  Are you a big baby or a brave, brave soul like me?

I have to say that this….

is not anywhere near as fun as this…

I daydreamed of ocean breezes while cranking out 35 minutes in my dingy basement.  It certainly was an exercise in visualization!

Thankfully, I didn’t have to visualize a delicious breakfast.  Although, the pickings were slim since I hadn’t gone to the grocery store yet, I had the makings for an egg white and cheese on an Ezekiel english muffin…

Always good!

I got the after-vacation lazies and poked around the house most of the day.  Haven’t even unpacked yet!

I had a strong craving for pasta, so I decided to make some for lunch.  I dug around in the bare bones cabinets and came up with this mix…

Hmmm.  What to do???

Take 1/2 cup of each of these…

Mix together…

and add to cooked pasta…

Not too bad for a slim pickings stash!

I made it out of the house later and headed to the supermarket to restock.  Good thing since I invited Gram for dinner!  I had a fun meal in mind – Chicken Cheesesteaks, Oven Fries and simple green salad…

I thinly sliced boneless, skinless chicken breast and cooked it with a little olive oil, green peppers, onions, s +p.  Added some cheese and served it on an Ezekiel hot dog bun…

Along with Oven Fries made with russet potatoes cut into wedges, drizzled with olive oil, seasoned and baked at 425 degrees for about 40 minutes…

It was one carb-tastic day!  Gotta get my green on tomorrow.  And unpack

Have a great day,everyone!

Do you unpack immediately upon coming home from vacation?  I have been know to live out of my suitcase for a week after vacation!!!  I just hate letting go…

Happy Monday!  Hope everyone had a great weekend.  We had some milestone birthday parties this weekend!

First, we celebrated my BIL’s 60th birthday party with a surprise event at their home.  My SIL did a great job pulling that one off!  The food was delicious. 

Especially the cake…

so I was told   Yes, I refused the birthday cake.  Sad, but true.  There was a milestone right there!

Today, we remotely celebrated my grandmother’s 100th birthday!  She lives in Italy and was having the whole town come to wish her happy birthday.  We Skyped our family in Italy and sang “Happy Birthday” in Italian to her!  So cool!  I hope I can get to 100 years, too!

In other milestone news…

I met my running partner, Kerry, this morning for a most humid and hot run.  But, we didn’t let it get us down!  We knocked out a sweaty 6.13 miles – my longest run ever!!  I was so psyched to finally hit that 6 mile mark…

We made a couple pit stops back at the car for a drink because it was just so hot.  I came to the conclusion that I really need a Camelbak!

Our overall time was 1 hour and 20 minutes with 20 intervals of 3:1…

I’m so proud of us for getting that far.  Just knowing I’m getting to the halfway distance mark for my upcoming half marathon makes me feel more confident that I can do it! 

And now, I feel it’s time for me to scale back on my running.  I know that sounds like the weirdest thing right now, but I’ll talk more about it in an upcoming post

Okay, so on to the food…

Well, coffee first

Breakfast was my new favorite – Cottage Cheese Fruit Bowl…

• 3/4 cup nonfat cottage cheese
• 1/2 diced gala apple
• 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
• 2 tsp. sliced almonds
• 2 tsp. reduced-fat unsweetened coconut

I never liked cottage cheese so much!  The coconut really makes it.  I found this in my local Giant Supermarket…

Delish…

A while later, I had a small snack – egg whites on Triscuits…

Funny looking egg whites, right?  See, I had this idea to use up my carton of egg whites…

I bought them because I was feeling badly about chucking all the egg yolks when I made my egg sandwiches, etc.  However, sometimes, ya just want a hard boiled egg!  Again, I waste the yolks.  So I came up with a method to simulate a hard boiled egg white.  I’ve tried the microwave and it’s just not the same as that firm boiled egg.  Instead, I baked them!  Here’s the method for my Hard Baked Egg Whites…

A mini-muffin tin coated with cooking spray…

A large roasting pan with sides…

Place tin in roasting pan and fill each cup with 2 tbsp. egg whites…

*note:  do not shake the carton before using as instructed

Fill roasting pan with VERY HOT water until it reaches just under the lip of the muffin tin…

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until firm …

Let cool slightly.  Run a knife around the edges and release egg whites from the pan.

Make a tower cuz it’s fun…

They were nice and firm with the texture of a hard boiled egg.  Easy to make ahead and store in the fridge for snacking…

And no peeling!  Don’t ya just hate that job?!

At lunchtime, we met at my parents’ new home where we Skyped, celebrated and ate.  Mom made a roasted chicken, salad and had hoagie bites for the kids.

I enjoyed my chicken and salad with an Ezekiel roll and a smidge of buttah!

When back at the homestead, I noshed on an apple with warm natural peanut butter (thanks for that idea, Tamara!)…

Dinner was a filling bowl of brown rice pasta with Trader Joe’s Giant White Beans and leftover sauteed spinach…

Now, if I could just get the rest of the family to eat this……that would be one amazing milestone

Have a great day, everyone!

Would you want to live to 100?  Why or why not?